One Lovely Blog Award

I've been awarded a blog award by my friend Corina of Geminae. This is one of those chain awards that spread the word about other blogs.  I have really enjoyed and found several good blogs this way. 

 

Thank you Corina!  I urge any of you that have not already to check out her blog!  The things this lady can do with fabric or an old piece of clothing leave me amazed.  I am always eager to see what she is doing next.

Rules:

• Thank the person who nominated you and link to them in your post.
• Share seven unknown things about yourself.
• Nominate other bloggers and blogs you like or admire.
• Contact the bloggers you nominate to let them know and to link them back to your post so they can read “The Rules,” too.

7 Things about me

1. I was in the United States Marine Corps for eight years.  This usually shocks people since I am pretty much a girly-girl!  I was even teased about being too much of a girl in bootcamp (by the other girls).
2. I love Sci-Fi and Fantasy movies/books.  Anything from Star Wars to Game of Thrones.
3. I play video Games most specifically online games such as World of Warcraft.
4. I own 3 sewing machines including a Pfaff 260 Semi-Industrial sewing machine.  It is amazing, but I don't use it often enough.
5. My music interests vary from popular music all the way to classical but absolutely favorite group is a Power Metal band named Kamelot.
6. I own a zoo! Not really, but I have three dogs and two cats and some days that feels like zoo!
7. Besides my pets, I have three favorite animals elephants, owls and bunnies. They are all three just so darn cute!
    

Now my nominations:

Rochelle from Lucky Lucille! Everything she makes is gorgeous and has the prettiest little details.  She also has one amazingly cute pooch!

 

Suzy from Suzy Sewing!  Not only does she make super cute garments, but she has also made her own patterns!

 

 

I hope you check these blogs out and enjoy them as much as I have!

 

PS I hope to be back full time within the next week or two!

Sewing Room Makeover

My sewing room is in desperate need of some organization and some on the walls to make it feel prettier.  That coupled with the fact that I have been loosing weight and do not really want to jump into garment sewing again until I have reached a plateau, has pushed this to the front of my list of things to do.

                                                                        image source

First up on my list is a fabric covered cork board from the Liberty Book of Home Sewing.  I plan to do a solid background with a patterned bias tape running across it.

I would also like to make the machine apron and organizer from McCalls 5871 (for carrying any hand sewing activities around).

Also, an ironing board cover - I have McCalls 6051 but I have also seen tutorials out on the web.

Lastly, I would like to install some nice thread racks.  This one matches my craft table, but I might also try the DIY method and paint some cheaper ones.

That will at least be a start and then I need to organize the storage space! I still need to decide on colors and of course it wouldn't be a makeover if I didn't show you before pictures!

 Are any of you working on any office or home decor projects right now?

Craftsy Block of the Month - June

For the month of June the Craftsy Block of the Month focused on the modern 9 patch technique.

The first block pictured is the Octagon Block.  This block really just used techniques learned in past classes.  It was a slam dunk - not much to say here.

The second block is a Greek Cross.  This block had a bit more cutting and piecing together but another straight forward technique.  Despite its simplicity I am pretty impressed with the overall outcome.  I definitely could imagine doing an entire quilt based on this block.

That is it for now.  I have some great posts to get up, but the weather has been way too hot for outdoor pictures and I am not great at taking indoor pictures.

Giveaway Winner Anounced!

The blog birthday giveaway winner is Miha!  I'll contact you shortly to get the shipping information! Thanks to everyone who participated! It was so much fun looking at every one's ideas for a birthday dress.  I can't wait to host my next giveaway - when the blog reaches 25 members.  Spread the word!



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Blog Celebration and Giveaway!

sewing themed birthday cake

I am super excited!! My blog is celebrating its first birthday this month!  That is right - I made my first blog post back in August of last year! I can't believe how time has flown and how much my sewing has progressed!

To celebrate with all of you I am going to host a giveaway that includes one of the first completed dress projects I ever posted on this blog the Lonsdale dress from Sewaholic Patterns, and also a belt kit from A Fashionable Stitch Shop.

To win you must first be a follower of this blog and then leave a comment in the post below with what dress you would make for your own birthday party. Entries will be accepted until 12:00am PST Friday, August 10th. One entry per a person - please spread the word!  International entries are accepted.

(For my blog's birthday I will be finishing my Ice cream Sundae Obsession dress, which I feel is fitting the occasion).

Craftsy Block of the Month - May

The Craftsy Block of the Month class featured log cabin style logs for the month of May.  It has been awhile since I put these together, but I am pleased to finally be posting about them.

The first log cabin block is called a floating frame block.  I really like the concept of this block, but I am not sure I had the best fabrics to feature its strong points.  I think this block would be best if you have a strong focal point for the center, something that really draws you inward and really ends up looking framed.  I also thinking going somewhat smaller scale on both the middle block and the different frames would be best. I wanted to do something large and chunky, but I don't think it translated as well as it could have.

The second block is a wonky log cabin block.  This block was creative, random and fun.  I could see doing a quilt with nothing but this block and every block still looking unique and fresh.  This is another block that is great for showcasing a focal point fabric, which I was able to do since I decided to start the middle of the block off with a smaller print.

I enjoyed the May blocks and I am looking forward to catching up on June, July and August!  After I get caught up there will only be one month of blocks left -  September.  The remaining months of the year will be spent piecing together and finishing off the quilt! 

Been away for far too long

Wow! I can't believe how long it has been since my last post.  While I have been gone - I hope I have not been forgotten.  As I mentioned previously the girl I was working with quit leaving me the only one at my company doing my job.  We have a very large project going on which has kept me busy and while we still have not found a replacement for the position I am finding some very small junks of time to sew.

As someone who has never had an issue before finding time to sew, it has been challenging for me to be on the other side of the fence.  For me having something that normally just takes a few minutes of my sewing time be all I get done in a day (ie. trace and sew the bust darts) has been very disheartening and distracting!  However, I just can't stay gone any longer!
For August, I am going to keep it simple but treat myself to some hard earned sewing time!  I am going to finish the last project of the Sew Colette challenge (better late than never right?) and finish my Cherry Fabric truffle dress that is cut out and part way finished at the moment (bust darts complete lol).  I am also going to finish my Ice cream Sundae Obsession dress and catchup on my Craftsy Block of the Month class, and lastly join Sew Colette 2.0 and sew the Macaron dress.

I am hoping since the first two items are about 75% complete and normally I could have finished each of them in a day that this won't be too much!

I also want to branch out from just finished garments and add some more meaningful content to the blog.  However, at least for the next week I'll be posting up the remainder of my Spring Palette challenge items that completed before my break.

Pictured above is an IPAD case that I made using one of the Craftsy workshops with some modifications.  The case was a mother's day gift for my mother-in law and I am pretty happy with the overall results, but wish I had made a mock-up first.  The case was pretty heavy into machine quilting which while I don't mind using that to piece what would be the block portions together - I found machine quilting the design or actual "quilted" portion to just look poor.  I would much rather have put the effort into hand stitching.  The instructions also were not great and found that due to the instructions not being complete nor clear that I ended up with unfinished edges inside the bag. However, at the end of the day mom is pleased with her gift so I am as well - next time you can bet I will be doing a mock-up!  But it is pretty darn cute isn't it?